Church Of St Mary

The Church of St. Mary is a former Anglican parish church in Cricklade, now serving as a Roman Catholic parish church. It dates from the 12th, 13th, 14th, and 19th centuries and is built from limestone rubble with a stone slate roof. The church consists of a nave, north and south aisles, a chancel, and a west tower, along with a north chapel attached to the chancel. The aisles feature wide 19th-century three-light cinquefoil windows with labels, while the chancel has 2-light plate tracery windows, also from the 19th century. There is no clerestorey, but two three-light gabled dormers are present on the south side. The chapel, dating from the 13th century, includes a mid-14th-century three-light cinquefoil window and an angle buttress. An open south porch is also part of the structure. A clock from 1863 is located on the east gable of the nave, and a sundial dated 1822 replaces an earlier one on the south chancel wall.

Inside, the nave has three bays from the 12th century, featuring a chancel arch with chevron and cable moulding supported by scalloped capitals. The church also has 13th to 14th-century three-bay arcades with four-centred arches on octagonal columns. The tower arch is simply chamfered, with small trefoiled gable stops. The 19th-century timber roof is open, and the chancel has been reworked in the 14th century, extending it to the east. There is a moulded arch leading from the nave to the north chapel, which now serves as the organ chamber, and squints to the aisles. The east window, created by Galpin of Oxford, dates from 1862-1863.

Notable fittings include a 13th-century font with an inverted column base on a possible Roman capital, reset in the 19th century; a mid-17th-century half-octagonal oak pulpit with arcaded panelling; and an altar table from 1627 with stretchers between turned legs and carved fasciae. The organ was made by A.E. Pease of London, and other fittings are from the 19th century. The church contains 18th-century brass candelabra and an oak document chest. It underwent further restorations in 1908 and 1963-1964 before becoming redundant in 1981, with the parish amalgamating with St. Sampson's in 1952. Excavations in 1964 suggest that the walls of the north chapel are founded on Anglo-Saxon work associated with the town wall.